Summer Break in Lancaster and Scotland, 2022

 At the end of August, we did a two-week trip to Lancashire to see Emily and then on to Glasgow for four days with some of my family, and then a tour in Scotland seeing Helen's younger brothers Iain and Kenneth and their families. We planned this mostly travelling by train and hired a car in Bathgate for the trip further north in Scotland and returning to Bathgate and by train to Glasgow and then home. Unfortunately, the trip coincided with rail disruptions because of staff shortages and also the funeral of the queen that meant some venues were closed during our tour. The train problems meant the journey up was via Derby and Sheffield (to the east) and then back west via Manchester as the trains through Birmingham were not running.

We have been to Lancaster many times but not since we did the work on Emily's canal boat last year when it was out of water for repairs and painting. This time we stayed in central Lancaster in Regent Street that is close to the railway station and town centre. This was very pleasant, and we did some fine walks around Arnside travelling directly by train and then walking up to Arnside Knott and then back by Grubbin's Wood Nature Reserve and alongside the river Kent back to the station. There are great views from the hillside looking over the bay. Another day we took the cycle path from Lancaster towards Glasson Dock, stopping for lunch at the Conder Green at The Stork Inn in a lovely sunny setting in the garden.

Leaving Lancaster, it is only about 2 hours to Glasgow centre and a 20-minute walk to our accommodation on Bath Street just off Sauchiehall Lane on the north side of the Clyde. We were situated in a theatre area with night clubs nearby and plenty of places for eating and breakfast or coffee.

Looking over the Clyde towards the north.

One of the lesser-known murals at the rear of Bath Street where we stayed.

The first two days we decided to see around the city using the Hop-0n Hope-off bus (about 30 minutes frequency at £16 per day and second day for £1 at the time we visited) that has a starting and finishing point in the main George Square but can be accessed at several locations around the city. We enjoyed the live narrative of the Glaswegian guide that was very thorough although the recorded multilingual audio was also good. The first day we did the full tour and then chose to go to the Riverside Museum of Transport and Travel situated at the junction of Glasgow's two great rivers the Kevin and Clyde.  This is spacious and with lots to see depending on your individual interests. It also has a restaurant and great views of the river and parts of the city. The Tallship attraction next the museum on the waterfront was closed when we visited.

The front of the Riverside Museum with the Tallship on the waterfront.

The next day we visited Glasgow Green and the People's Palace, again using the bus tour. Next to the museum is the Doulton Fountain originally built in 1888 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and recently relocated.

The Doulton Fountain restored and moved here in 2005 and looking impressive in the autumn sunshine.

The People's Palace and Winter Gardens.

Again, the Palace and Winter Gardens is a Victorian building dating from 1898. Originally the ground floor was for people to use for reading and had recreation rooms, built for the use of the people of Glasgow. Now of course it is a major tourist attraction for the city, and I'd say has too much information to take in on one visit so a good reason to return in the future. Needless to say, it also has a coffee shop on the ground floor. We then returned to George Square for a look-around and lunch, with lots of choices nearby. We decided on a Scottish Tapas restaurant, something we'd meet again on our travels further north.

The following day we walked to The Tenement House owned by The National Trust Scotland. This was only 10 minutes and very good with lots of information on a "middle-class" tenement well preserved from the period and containing many original household items. The two guides were particularly helpful and knowledgeable about the last occupants and their way-of-life (the house opened for visitors at 10 am and closed at 4 pm), We then went on from here to the Kelvingrove Museum, again a short 20-minute walk through the Kelvin Grove Park on the north side of the motorway (there is a footbridge to cross!). There is a lot to take-in here and we curtailed our visit to enable us to get to the Botanical Gardens which is situated about 30-minutes north from the museum. Again, we could have spent more time here in the various hot houses and gardens, but time was limited.

We then left Glasgow from Queen Street Station on the line to Edinburgh and stopped at Bathgate where we met Iain and Elaine for a couple of days visit. This region is in the M8 corridor and has changed markedly in the last few years with lots of new housing and developments. We had a stroll around Bathgate for coffee and to see the local museum and parks. We had visited Bathgate before but had not walked around the centre, so it was good to see all the activities and community groups that flourish here. The next day we went further afield to the village of Blackness and the castle that overlooks the Firth of Forth with views of the Forth bridges and to the south.

View of Blackness village from the walls of Blackness castle.

Inside the castle that has served several purposes over its history.

There was a cold wind at the castle I guess partly from its exposed position on the Firth. Following the staircases through the castle, there are excellent views of the surrounding region and information boards on the history of the buildings. It was first mentioned as a residence and also a prison in 1449 so has a long history of changes. We did get a feeling of how the castle looked as many of the rooms, although now empty, were intact. Indeed, the location was used in the television series "Outlanders" featured in series 1 and 2 as the headquarters of "Black Jack Randall". 

Leaving Bathgate by car (Eurohire Drive, Bathgate), we travelled north to Falkirk via The National Wallace Monument near Stirling. This is situated on Abbey Craig. The car park is at the bottom and the monument is reached by a footpath through the woods. The tower itself is 87 m in height and has 246 steps leading to exhibition rooms and the top tower that gives excellent views of Stirling and the river where the Battle of Stirling Bridge took place.  It is well worth the climb, even though space on the stairs is limited!

View from the top of the Wallace Monument to the winding River Forth, the site of the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. William Wallace led the Scots to victory.

One of the wooden sculptures on the path climbing to the monument.  This one is of an iron worker with anvil by Iain Chalmers. 

It was only a short drive into the centre of Falkirk to the Orchard Hotel (this proved to be good value at £99 for two nights including breakfasts). From here we decided that a little walking to see the town, the Helix Park and the Falkirk Wheel, would be nice as we had spent a few days sitting. The first afternoon we went to the see "The Kelpies". These are apparently the world's largest equine stainless steel sculptures standing 30 metres in height and looking over the Forth & Clyde canal. The name was chosen by Scottish Canals from Gaelic meaning a mythical water horse.

The Kelpies situated The Helix Park just outside Falkirk. The water between the sculptures is connected to the Forth & Clyde canal at the rear of the photo.

The Kelpies from the other side of the Forth & Clyde canal. The canal towpath is on the right of the photo and leads back to Falkirk and onwards to the Falkirk Wheel.

After a snack at the site, we set off on the tow path back to Falkirk. This is through pleasant countryside on a well-marked tarmac path, ideal for cycling as well. 

The following day was the Queen's Funeral and a Bank Holiday in the UK hence most people were watching TV or having a lazy day. We are respectful but not loyalists, so it didn't really affect us apart from the fact that the facilities and Falkirk Wheel were closed but open for visiting. We re-joined the towpath and followed it the junction with the Union canal where the Wheel allows boats to get between the canals and hence across Scotland (about 35 miles or 56.3 km), Grangemouth to Bowling. Originally there was a series of 11 locks which took a day to navigate to get between the canals. These were dismantled in 1933 and the Wheel was opened in 2002 after a massive engineering works (see the Scottish Canals website for details). This is a truly impressive structure, and we were sad not to have seen it in action.

The Falkirk Wheel, the bottom is linked to the Forth & Clyde canal. Boats are lifted 115 feet up to the aquaduct connected to the Union canal.

This is where the boats are lifted to the Union canal.

We walked up hill to the Union canal and then followed finger post to the Antonine Fort (about 45 minutes). This was pleasant through the woodlands to reach a grassy plateau area with some boards explaining what had been found in excavations but now covered as I guess they were originally found. This is one of about 16 known forts along the Antonine Wall (AD140) built in a bid to mark the north-west frontier of their empire. After this we retraced our steps back to Falkirk stopping at a wayside pub, The Canal Inn, Lock 16, for a drink and nibbles. Later in town we found another Scottish tapas restaurant, this time serving more traditional Scottish food in the tapas and this we can recommend.

Progressing northwards to Ballachulish the next day, we passed several sites and of course, through the famous Glen Coe. 

A break at Loch Lubnaig in the Lock Lomond and Trossachs National Park; perfect weather for this time of year in Scotland.

This is the completed replica 17th. Century turf house at the NTS Glencoe Visitors Centre. Glencoe National Nature Reserve | National Trust for Scotland (nts.org.uk). 

Tormentil growing on the outside walls.

The Glencoe visitors centre had changed since we last past with a turf house completed during the Covid lockdown.  It was interesting to see the outside walls beginning a life of their own with some plants taking hold.

Our next stop was the Loch Leven hotel just off the A82 after crossing the bridge joining the north and south parts of the village of Ballarculish. When I first went to Scotland with my parents on holiday in the 1960s, the connection over Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe was by a small vehicle ferry. The hotel was pleasant with many European tourists but was chronically understaffed, a recurrent problem we encountered on this trip.

The bridge at Ballarculish from the steps at the hotel.

The village of Mallaig, the coastal destination of the so-called Jacobite steam train.

We then drove the short distance to Fort William and parked near the railway station for the day and looked around the town. This had not changed very much from our last visit here and we had the same difficulty finding a coffee stop, partly because of the number of visitors and the poor weather with mist shrouding the hills. We had booked an afternoon trip on the Jacobite train (see the web site:  https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/jacobite) that goes over the famous Glenfinnan viaduct overlooking Loch Shiel. The train stopped here for 20 minutes, so we enjoyed the views whilst eating an ice cream from a platform vendor. When we reached Mallaig, the weather had not improved so we looked around the harbour and the Heritage Centre (museum) that gave information of the development of the port, the pier, and the clearances in the Highlands that led to the herring fishing industry developing in the village and also the improvement in transport particularly the steam railway dating back to 1901. On reflection we should have had lunch first as the village was overwhelmed with day visitors (mainly from the train) and we had difficulty finding a table. On the trip back we didn't stop at Glenfinnan. We did get good views of Ben Nevis as we neared Fort William. We can recommend this journey because of the amazing scenery that the train passes at a slow speed.

On return to Fort William, we had a 10-minute drive to the Distillery Guest House which was very pleasant, and then onto Lairg the next day choosing a scenic route alongside Loch Ness and off west to Beauly where we stopped for lunch in the autumn sunshine. However, before that we stopped to see Fort Augustus and the locks that join the Caledonian canal to Lock Ness. A series of boats including some "Le Boat". the company we used on our Canal du Midi trip, were passing through from Loch Ness.

Fort Augustus where the canal joins Loch Ness.

Looking south into the canal as the boats leave the locks.

  

Beauly village, a welcome stop on route to Lairg.

Beauly village looked picturesque in the sunshine (with a few looming clouds) especially with the numerous hanging basket. We even ate outdoors before wandering around the shops and I recall visiting the village before and its wide main street.

The south side of Cromarty Firth and the Cromarty bridge in the distance, our route north from here.

After this we cut across country avoiding the main A9 road to get a hilltop view from the Struie on route towards Bonar Bridge. This is steep and at times narrow road, but the view from the top is spectacular and worth the diversion.

Struie hilltop (660 feet) view above Dornoch Firth

There are not many hotels in Lairg and we stayed at what must be the largest, The Highland Hotel on the main street. We had a walk around the village and to the bridge and a pleasant dinner, again with mainly overseas guests. The receptionist was also looking after the hotel as well as serving food and generally keeping things going as once again, they were short of staff. However, they were well organised with allocated times for breakfast and evening meal.

A cycle repair station in Lairg, what a brilliant idea.

We then drove to Kenneth and Jane's for a couple of days near Tain and did some walks and tours from there including part of the Pictish trail passing the Hilton of Cadboll sculptured stone dating from 780 AD, the fortifications and batteries from WWII on the remote coastal path near Castlecraig farm (N57.695, W3.982) and offshore windfarm structures. The defence area seems to be little known although covering several different structures over a considerable area I couldn't find anything in detail on google.

Part of the defence structures, a gun battery, near Castlecraig farm

Defence structure looking out across the Moray Firth.

Offshore wind farm structures near Nigg.

On another trip we went further north towards Ullapool (21 km to north of Ullapool) but taking the narrower track roads that Kenneth is familiar with. First, keeping to the south side of the Dornoch Firth to Bonar Bridge and then taking the track on the west side of the Kyle of Sutherland and then A837 north-westerly to Ledmore and then branching west on A835 to reach our destination Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve (N58.034655, W5.067636 ) 

 

View from Knockan Crag Reserve of Lochan an Ais with Cul Beag (769 m) in the distance.

There are various paths around with one going to the top of the crag and gave great views of the surrounding mountains and lochs, and if you are interested in geology, this would be good place to see the changes in rocks through the ages. I also noticed the purple flowers of Devil's-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) on the path side as we climbed up into a windy and cooler exposure.

Devil's Bit Scabious.

This proved a very scenic trip, and I can recommend it if you are at ease driving on single track roads.

From here we returned to Bathgate to return the hire car and then onto Glasgow (Maldron Hotel that is close to the station) and home. A great trip and also good to see everyone "up-north".

Bernese Alps, Swizerland

 I doubt we'd have done this trip without the invitation from friends, Doug and Dot, to join them at a chalet in Gimmelwald in the Bernese Alps for a week in July 2022. They had travelled in the region for many years and so they knew the transport system, villages and local walking routes.

We stretched the holiday out for a two week period and travelled by train, bus and cable car from our home in Devon to St. Pancras and then by Eurostar to Brussels where we stayed for two nights before moving onto Basel via Koln. We spent a couple of nights in Basel and then went further into Switzerland to Interlaken for a night and then completing the journey to Gimmelwald, a village at 1363 m with a view of the main ridge of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains.

We had decided on a land route to reduce our carbon footprint but because of the on-going Covid pandemic (both of us in our 70s and triple vaccinated) we decided to wear ffp2 medical masks on all public transport as a further precaution. Apart from Germany, this is optional and indeed in England, Belgium, Swizerland and France (on our return journey) we were in the minority with probably less than 5% of passengers  wearing any type of mask. Medical grade masks were mandatory in Germany and the vast majority of people wore them but a few used lower grade masks. Anyway, make of it what you want but I'm writing this nine days after our return and neither of us have experienced Covid symptons.

I prebooked most of our rail tickets by mobile Apps and reserved seats on Great Western, Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn and on our return via Paris, on French railways, SNCF. I used the Swiss railways App, SBB Mobile, but you can't reserve seats on the Swiss network. I purchased the "half-rail ticket" for one month and then the journeys through "point to point" tickets, e.g. the Basel to Gimmelwald ticket covers the whole journey from Basel to Interlaken and then to Stechelberg to then change to bus to Lauterbrunnen and the final stage by cable car to Gimmelwald. I did take hard copies of the tickets as backup.

Totnes to Brussels.

This went smoothly, the rail ticket to St Pancras from Totnes worked on the underground connection. The Eurostar terminal was crowded but once on the train there was sufficient luggage space and the train was on time. On arrival in Brussels at the Gare du Midi (Zuid or south station) we took the metro line 6 to Rogier which was a short walk to our hotel, Hotal Indigo,  in the Place Charles Rogier. This was a very pleasant stay with breakfast and a forest theme to the common areas with plenty of space. We tried the "chips and mussels" for dinner and the next day did tours on the TOOT bus (hop-on and off city tours) catching it at the Rogier stop on the square opposite the hotel. There are two loops and we did one in the morning and the other after waffles for lunch.

Typical street scene in central Brussels with lots of electric scooters available and also in use on the streets and cycle lanes. Seemed to be picked-up and dropped-off anywhere.

I haven't been to Brussels for over 20 years, the last time was when I worked on EU research projects and it has very much changed, especially the transport and abundance of electric scooters and cycles. We enjoyed a stroll around the Grand Place, the central square and adjoining streets back to our hotel. I can recommend the bus tours to give an overview of the city and the royal palaces. We did notice a lot of homeless in the central area.

Brussels to Basel.

After our brief stay we caught the train from the Gare du Midi to Basel going by Koln (10.25 h arriving at 16.47 h). The change in Koln was hectic with a crowded station and we had some difficulty getting to the correct carriage as the train was very long and we had probably miss-understood the diagram of the carriage locations given on the platform. Luggage space on the trains was good and we made it to Basel SBB station on time. On arrival, the tram station was immediately outside the front of the SBB station and the times and transits of the trams are well electronically signed. We looked for the number 2 tram to Wettstein Plaz (our hotel Wettstein was just off the square) and as one drew-up we boarded. Our hotel reservation was our ticket although we were not asked for a ticket (it seems they do random checks). Anyway, from the map I expected the tram to cross the Rhine to get to our square but it didn't and came to a stop. Anyway, it transpired that we had got on the tram going in the wrong direction so we stayed on and returned to the SBB station and then continued to our correct stop. The hotel was different and once we had mastered the blinds, the room was pleasant overlooking the garden with a much needed fan as the temperature was over 27 C. We had breakfast in the large garden and helped ourselves to coffee and hot chocolate drinks from a machine after our evening meals. The hotel is in "small" Basel on the German side of the river. During the first evening we had dinner outside in the square and did a brief walk along the river. This was very pleasant with wild flowers along the bank and pathway and a few people floating with their dry bags down the river. This seemed to be a popular pastime during our stay, probably helped a lot by the relatively high temperatures. 

We found that Basel was very modern with an excellent transport system (you get a tram pass with your hotel stay) of trams and buses and also lots of cycle lanes that were used by cycles, electric cycles and some scooters. It was clean and pleasant to walk around and the centre was a size that you can manage. They do have bus tours but the times were not convenient for our stay so we explored both sides of the Rhine bridges by foot. We found cafes and places to eat easily and looked around the older part of the town overlooking the river.

A view across the Rhine with some floating people in view.

Basel to Gimmelwald.

After this is was a short hop on the train to Interlaken, We grabbed an Indian curry just outside the train station (the east station, Ost) and found our ways by foot to Walter's hostel in the backpackers area south of the river. We had a large room, it was self catering and cool, so after a break we made our way back into town and strolled towards the western side of town. This is a busier area with lots of tourist including many Indian and Arab families. We had some difficulty getting an evening meal because many of the better places were completely booked with up to two hours wait. However, we did find a very nice restaurant and excellent service with a good view of  Jungfrau (4166 m) from our table. 

Jungfrau peak taken from close to where we had our evening meal

In the morning we decided to go onto to Gimmelwald as Interlaken was very busy and too commercialised for our taste and we were looking forward to meeting up with our friends. We went by train to Lauterbrunnen (802 m) and then changed to a connecting bus to Stechelberg (922 m) and finally by cable car to Gimmelwald (1363 m) where we stayed for one week as our base for walking in the nearby mountains and valleys.

The glacial river Aare running through Interlaken Ost. 

The view from our chalet looking down towards the Lauterbrunnen valley.

Our first relatively short walk (2.7 km one way) was to get some supplies from the village of Murren (1638 m) that is 275 m above Gimmelwald connected by a single track road and also by cable car. Gimmelwald and Murren are traffic free apart from use by the locals as there is no road connection to the valley. There is also a 2,2 km  via ferrata that connects the two villages. We met a few farmers moving hay between fields and storage. The year round population of Murren is 450 and I guess most of these work in the tourist industry or are closely connected with it. Murren has a Coop shop and plenty of ice cream for hot days! and is the destination of many of the tourists coming up from the valley on the cable cars.

The first longer walk we did was to perhaps typical of others we did in the coming days. We were very lucky to get splendid weather during our stay with sunshine and temperatures above 25 C at height and sometimes reaching over 32 C in the afternoon. First we descended to the valley and the bus to Lauterbrunnen and from there a train to Wengen followed by a cable car to Mannlichen (2343 m). Needless to say these all connected and led to a coffee in a cafe/restaurant before a climb ("The Royal Walk") to a view point with spectacular views.

View down the "The Royal Walk" to the cable car station and restaurant at Mannlichen with the North face of the Eiger, Munch and Jungfrau mountains in the background.

The rest of the walk (about 6.5 km) was called the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg a Wanderweg/Panoramaweg so nice and easy and mostly downhill taking about 1 1/2 hour but for us much longer as we stopped to see the views and also have our sandwich lunch. This is a spectacular walk as you pass in front of the North face and can see the Jungfraujoch, a saddle between Munch and Jungfrau, that has a railway station! 

This is the best photo I have of the North face as earlier it had been in full shade even tough we had sun and quite a blue sky. Munch is to the right.

At Kleine Scheidegg we got the cable car down to Wegen, did some more shopping before returning back to our chalet.

The following day we did another spectacular walk, this time starting and finishing in Murren, the village above our chalet. This walk is called the "North Face Trail"  an easy hike showing the north faces of the Bernese alps and has plenty of information boards describing the views and also a wild flower meadow area with information about the range of flowers seen in the meadows and pastures in the area. Also there are cafes/restaurants along the walk and, as ever, plenty of finger-posts indicating the different walks from the station.

The flower meadows at the start of the "North Face Trail".

The route back was through some woods and past some cabins with people making hay. What a log store!!

The route was also through pastures with cows grazing in the summer sunshine, a few yellow billed choughs circling, and wending our way through some welcome tree shade to some cabins and hay meadows before returning to Murren.

The next day we did a different type of walk starting in Gimmelwald and following the road towards the path down to Stechelberg but continuing on along a track to become a narrow footpath to a cirque at the head  of the valley, Chilchbalm at 1631 m. It was again a hot day so a dip in a glacial river was welcome before we went to the head of the valley to see a waterfall cascading from icefields above.

Waterfall near the head of the valley at Chichbalm.

Cairn at Chilchbalm looking into the cirque

We only saw two other hikers all day and so it was a real treat to have the cirque to ourselves for our lunch stop. I was thinking at the time how this would be a major tourist attraction in any other place, a wild meadow in a giant amphitheatre. Also, as we left we heard a loud crack and looked around to see an avalanche above the cirque flowing down the cliffs. We had never seen one before apart from the induced ones in Canada triggered by shots to keep the slopes safe near roads. We had noticed at the cabin that on the opposite cliffs the snow was disappearing fast to reveal the grey/blue glacial ice underneath and also the remarkable volume of glacial water flowing down the mountains and high  river levels. After we returned home we heard that some high alpine walking routes had to be closed because of the fear of rock and ice falls caused by the receding glaciers partly caused by the high temperatures but also aided by the low winter snowfall and the darkening of the snow caused by the desert sand that swept across Europe earlier in the year.

Another walk was via Grindelwald and a bus to Gross Scheidegg (about 2 hours journey from the chateau). The bus stops near Feldschosschen cafe, convenient for a stop and views from the mountain pass.

Another hot day with clear views of the peaks.

We followed route 6, the Mountain Panorama trail to get to the terminal First and the cable cars down back to Grindelwald. There are viewing platforms at the First terminus but they were very busy at the time of our visit so we gave this a miss.

Platform with views down to Grindelwald. The area gets busy because of the easy access and facilities here for eating with spectacular views.

The next day we got the little train to the Schynige Platte from Wilderswil (the stop before Interlaken on the train). This is a 7.3 km cogwheel track that climbs 1420 m and takes about 50 minutes. This started in 1893 as a steam railway and was electrified in 1914.

Looking down at the Bergstation, the start of our circular walk on the Platte.

There are several circular walks on the platte and include labelled wild flower gardens near the station.  We did route 2, the Panoramaweg that gave us great views of the valley towards Interlaken and the lakes. Again it was a hot day but we found a cool place under some pines for our lunch stop.

 I haven't mentioned much about this but I did get hundreds of photos of wild flowers, probably to the annoyance of my walking companions!. These I have stored on iNaturalist (an App I have being been using for several years now) and tried to identify, mostly with success.

As seen on every walk, the Great yellow Gentian, (Gentiana Lutea).

An example of the footpath 

Lots of finger posts for the various walks. This is at one of the peaks at Aussichtspunkt Daube (2076 m) with great views of the lakes in the valley.

View down to Interlaken on another clear day.

Our return was by the same route and sadly our last night before returning home via Paris and the Eurostar to St Pancras.

The first step was back to Interlaken and then Basel where we had lunch and plenty of time to get the 16.34 train to Gare du Lyon (about 3 hours travel). Our hotel (Lucien & Marinette) was close to the Gare du Nord ready to get the Eurostar to London the next morning. Meanwhile we had a day to see Paris again and decided to walk to the central area (about 20 minutes) and find a boat trip along the Seine,  Vedettes du Pont Neuf.  Of the cities we'd visited, Paris seemed very busy and noisy and certainly, like London, the car still dominated the transport. Anyway, we had a relaxing day finishing at a bar/cafe watching the city life pass us by.

Sorry..this time a view from the boat on the Seine!!

The rest of the journey went OK although there was a delay at the Eurostar terminal caused by some problems in the tunnel earlier in the day so the terminal was very crowded. It didn't help with the passport stamping that we now need caused by the madness of Brexit that still inflicts our country.

Overall it was a short but great holiday thanks to our "guides" and the excellent weather and scenery in the alps. It has given us more confidence in European rail travel that we started earlier in the year with our trip across Spain to return home after the winter. If you love mountains but don't like 1000 m hill climbing, the Bernese Alps offer an easy way to experience the higher altitudes without having to carry a lot or have navigation or survival  skills. Maybe this year it was not as busy as normally because of the fewer visitors from China and Japan caused by the restrictions in those countries caused by Covid . The only down-side is that Switzerland is quite expensive so we were not eating out as much as we usually do in Spain and France but of course there are other compensations.

I have to add another note about the trip and my first impressions. Compared to many other mountain areas, some of which I know well, e.g. the Spanish Pyrenees, this area is really geared up for mass tourism and the Swiss have planned this for many years and have been successful. However, this does take away from the experience of the effort of getting to altitude and "finding your way" and also the solitude that normally comes with mountain landscapes. The mountains here have been opened up through the transport system and cable cars that serve tourists well in the winter and summer. I recall J.B Morton in "Pyrenean" (1938) on passing from the Val d'Aran to Luchon by a footpath "...And then I began to wonder why no broad road ran over the mountains here for the Luchon tourists, and shuddered at the thought of what would happen to the Val d'Aran if ever maniacs started to "develop" the district. Several years ago I tried to do what Morton had done and found the old path out of Spain but on the French side there was no way but to trundle down a "broad road", it did seem a disappointment. I think it was once the same in Switzerland when many valleys were isolated from each other and they developed to some degree their own culture and language.
 

Spain in Winter of 2022

 Escaping the winter weather by holidaying in Guardamar del Segura, Costa Blanca again, the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 when we stayed here during Spain's first lockdown. Great to be back and getting our cycles back into action and enjoying the sunshine and milder weather.

Sand sculptures on the local beach

Cormorants drying off on the Segura river next to the cycle track to La Marina. Note some white Asphodels in the foreground.

We have done several trips so far including Alicante by bus and cycling to some of the local villages such as Las Marina, La Marina, Rojales, Catral and La Mata.

Alicante in the sunshine after walking through the old town and market area.

Our trip to Spain also coincided with the start of the Ukraine-Russia war so we saw many signs condemning the war and anti Putin signs:

Town hall on international women's day (after the crowds had left).

The track to Rojales and the abundant yellow flowers of "Bermuda Buttercup" along the bank of the river.

This is our normal river crossing flooded by the recent storms. This area has had a very dry winter so the rains in February are much welcomed.

View across the Salinas from the nature reserve near La Marina. Salt piles in the distance looking toward Santa Pola.

The beach at La Mata where there is a reserve for nesting Kentish Plovers in the dunes above the beach.

"Gold Coin" flower near La Mata.

"Shrub Everlasting" abundant in the local forest reserve.

We also did  some day trips to Altea/ Guadalest and also Cartagena. The first was a very sunny day and we got great views of the valley and also the coast north of Altea (north of Benidorm). We went to the old town part of Altea with it's narrow and hilly streets.

Looking from the old town at Altea along the beach south to Punta Bol. Out of view a little further south is the tall buildings of Benidorm.

After seeing some of Altea, we went on to the Guadalest valley some 40 minutes drive away on a winding climb, some through some pretty urbanised areas. The village has a long history and some more recent aspects of rural life are collected in the "Ethnological" museum near the castle. This is said to typical  house of the eighteenth century built into the rock of the village and showing aspects of hard daily domestic and agricultural life of the people. We also had great views of the valley and the "El Embalse de Guadalest" in the valley  below the castle. 

Guadalest looking up to the castle. Cooler up here in the mountains and nice to get inside for lunch.

View of the Guadalest valley and embalse from near the castle. The lack of rain is clearly seen in the water levels. We were fortunate that the sky was clear and gave us great panoramic views of the surrounding sierras. Also views of the terraces below still used for horticulture.

Nispero fruit on bushes near Guardamar. The region around Guardalest is known for this fruit and we saw the bushes covered with netting to protect them. We also bought some conserve in Guardalest made from the local trees. Pepi in our local bar told us he has them in his garden but the fruit easily fall with very cold weather.

Following this we went by bus to Cartagena further to the south and spent a day doing touristy things. We had a forty minute cycle ride to get the bus at La Marina village through a sand storm with high winds but it didn't prove too bad and meant a rear wind home after the trip. We visited the ancient Roman theatre that had been excavated from the centre of the city after it was discovered underneath the residential area. It is amazing how they managed to preserve the remains of the original construction. We had the place to ourselves apart from a school tour. 

The Roman theatre looking from the stage out to the audience. The old church is on the top right of the photo. Notice the orange glow to the sky caused by the sandstorm.

 We also visited the Naval Museum near the docks and were amazed at the ship models of all descriptions in the museum and also some of the wood working tools used by the early shipwrights including a frame saw and bow saw that are similar to the ones that I built (described in my other blog). We did run out of time as the museum closed at two and we still had to have lunch before departing at four.

One of the tools on display an old bow saw with hemp string to tighten. This one didn't have handles as such and also the blade curved towards each end making it unusual compared to modern designs.

Rip frame saw presumable used to build the Spanish galleons.

After these visits we had a few unsettled weeks with the highest rainfall that Spain has seen in March for 100 years (according to the headlines!). However, once we had escaped this and back to warmer and less windy weather we did some more cycling on routes I described in 2020 and before. A new one was around the La Mata Lagoon (Laguna Salade de la Mata) going along the CV -895 towards Quesada and following this south to join the CV-905. The latter part of this route was a good cycle way with marked crossings at roundabouts that the cars gave way to us. Once we were at the south-west corner of the lagoon, we crossed the dual carriageway to a watch tower and a wide track along the southern edge of the lagoon. Here we saw flamingos in the water near the edge as the rough track meandered near the lagoon. After the rains the dirt track was firm but a little water logged in places but was easily passable all the way to the village of La Mata for lunch. The return was on our usual cycle track alongside the N332 into and then through streets in Guardamar, about 30 km distance in total.

The lagoon taken from the watch tower at the south-west corner and looking across the water towards urbanisations. The track in the foreground follows the southern boundary of the lagoon to the village of La Mata. 

 After this we had further storms, apparently the worst in Alacante area for 50 years. We have never experienced continual bad weather with wind and rain for more than a couple of days during other visits so this came as a surprise, especially after the good weather and sunshine earlier in February.  However, things did improve during the last week of our stay and so we were able to do more cycling.

We had decided to travel home by train and ferry to reduce our carbon emissions. We had previously purchased our Dorado cards (senior citizen travel cards at 6 Euro each) from the station at Alicante and booked the train from Alicante to Santander (direct) on the RENFE web site. I found this easy and they sent the tickets to my mobile. The train left at 10.35 am on a Saturday so we got a taxi from Guardamar to the terminal station in Alicante. Face masks are still needed in indoor spaces in Spain (April 2022) including public transport and we had ffp2 masks for the trip. The train goes directly between Alicante and Santander going between the Madrid stations (Atocha and Chamartn) taking just over 6 hours. Infact we did change trains in Madrid at Atocha but this meant crossing a platform. This seemed to be unexpected by everyone so I suspect this was not normal as the train is a direct one. The train made nine stops: Villena, Albacete, Cuenca, Madrid Atocha, Madrid Charmartn, Segovia, Valladolid, Palencia, Torrejavega and arriving in Santander on time at 6.15 pm actually. The train was Alvia 04143 (maximum speed 250 km/h), not as fast as the AVE trains but able to change speed according to the track. We travelled by "Tourist Class" and this was comfortable with plenty of space and a bonus that the seats orientation could be changed so that you always travelled facing forward. They had a service carriage and also brought drinks and sandwiches around the train.

It was interesting to see the changes in scenery travelling across country with the arid highlands to start with and later the greener corn fields with lots of the Stone pines near Segovia and then crossing the Picos mountains reminding us of scenery at home and also the Pyrenees further north with fertile valleys and more mixed farming.

In Santander we stayed at a hotel near to the station and also the ferry (Abba Hotel) and had glorious weather not typical of Santander at this time of year (maximum 26 C). We visited the  Bolin Art Centre and also the Maritime Museum as well as several parks and the shopping area. We left much to see for future visits and enjoyed eating out at different restaurants further back from the main promenade (which was very busy with Easter already started).

Sea front at Santander looking from the "Centro Botin" towards the Maritme Museum in the distance.

In the Jardins de Pereda near the "Centro Botin"